Texas day care worker accused of pinning down, hitting child

A Texas day care teacher is accused of assaulting a 4-year-old boy who was being disruptive, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Tracy Ludwig, 36, is accused of straddling the child on the floor and slapping him more than 10 times while they were in a playroom, the newspaper reported, citing an arrest warrant. Ludwig, of Lake Worth, is also accused of pinching the boy several times on the neck when he would not stop kicking.

Kindsie Andreason, the victim’s mother, said video surveillance showed her son, Hunter, pinned to the ground by a woman. The woman in the video was identified as Ludwig, the television station reported.

“She straddled him, pinned him down to the floor, and she just started hitting him and beating him across the face and chest,” Andreason told WFAA.

Brenda Ward, the owner of Little Country, said she was “cooperating fully with the investigation,” but declined further comment, the Star-Telegram reported.

The incident allegedly happened after the boy was removed from his room because he was being disruptive at nap time, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn told KXAS.

Paul Andreason came to the center to pick up his son after receiving a call that Hunter had been disruptive, the Star-Telegram reported.

“When my husband asked about the (boy’s) scratches, he was told that he had scratched himself,” Andreason told the newspaper in a telephone interview Monday. “Then when I asked about it, I was told that his jacket caused the marks.”

After hearing her son had been disruptive, Andreason put the boy in timeout. She told WFAA her son was scared to tell her what happened.

“Just to know that we got onto Hunter and we reprimanded him for kicking whenever he was just trying to defend himself against a 36-year-old woman that was pinning him down and beating him – it just makes you sick,” Andreason told the television station.

After Hunter’s redness turned into bruises, Andreason went to the day care center. The boy’s teacher told her to demand answers from Ward, WFAA reported. Ward showed Andreason a 10-minute surveillance video.

“She (Ward) acted as though she had never seen the video,” Andreason told the Star-Telegram. “They all apologized.”

Andreason then contacted authorities. She is filing a lawsuit against the day care, its owner, director, two teachers and Ludwig, WFAA reported.

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